1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to paint roller cleaners, specifically to such cleaners that use water or other solvents and centrifugal action to clean paint rollers.
2. Description of Prior Art
Although four score or more patents of this genre have been issued within the past two decades, paint specialty and general merchandise stores rarely offer any selection. Not one of the 26 patented devices reviewed in depth possesses all of the features herein deemed essential. Such a device must be easy to use, durable, inexpensive and require no maintenance. It must shield the operator and cleaning area from paint and solvent splatter. It must render the roller ready for immediate reuse or storage. It must accommodate the full variety of common paint rollers, and perform its function without having to remove the roller from its handle.
Eight (8) previously patented devices reviewed require removal of the roller cover prior to installation in the device. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,155,230; 4,237,575, 4,311,158; 4,708,152; 4,733,679; 5,185,938; 5,452,734; 5,487,399.
Seven (7) patents reviewed have been issued for devices which provide no drying action. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,126,484; 4,155,230; 4,172,373; 4,606,777; 4,765,354; 5,322,081; 5,452,734.
Eight (8) of the reviewed patented devices wash and spin the paint roller through a “plurality of jets”. This attempt to provide “full length cleaning coverage” seriously reduces the penetrating and spinning power available in normal domestic water systems. Likewise, unless the jets are closely spaced, these devices leave poorly cleaned bands on the paint roller. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,130,124; 4,446,590; 4,708,152; 5,050,626; 5,402,808; 5,505,220; 5,614,021; 5,626,158.
One (1) U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,189 provides a “fan-shaped” discharge of water “contacting the roller throughout its entire length”. Being continuous, such a spray action would eliminate the “banded cleaning effect” of the previous eight devices, but it shares the main problem, a serious reduction in penetrating and spinning power by spreading that force over the entire length of the roller.
One (1) U.S. Pat. No. 3,075,534 issued to A. Harbostad in 1963 has some of the above listed essential features. The principal defect of this device is its limited usability. The only paint rollers which will fit the device are those with 90 degree bends in the handle. Most of the paint roller handles on the market would not fit this device, even if it were available. Other defects include enclosed bottom, seriously occluded exhaust which allows accumulation of swirling liquid during spin drying as well as design features adversely effecting manufacturability and cost.
One (1) U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,255 issued to this applicant, William R. Walter in 2000, was earlier deemed to answer all of the deficiencies and drawbacks of previous devices. However, manufacturing and marketing the device yielded evidence of the need for at least three improvements: (1) elimination of even an occasional splatter out of the open top, (2) a design more amenable to mass production and (3) production and distribution cost reductions.
3. Summary of Defects and Disadvantages of Prior Patented Paint Roller Cleaners:    a) Cleaners that feature removal of the roller from the handle prior to cleaning require the operator to handle the paint covered roller. This is time consuming and messy.    b) Devices which leave the finished roller too wet for immediate reuse or for storage.    c) Devices which cannot provide deep cleaning and high speed spin action because the available force of the spray is spread throughout the full length of the roller.    d) Devices that are unable to accommodate the variety of common roller designs.    e) Devices such as my own invention, cited earlier, where the process is not always fully and dependably contained, where further cost reductions can be achieved by design modifications, or where previously unanticipated features can add to its usefulness.
4. Conclusion Drawn from Analysis of Prior Art
A need yet remains for a device which possesses all of the characteristics essential to answer the deficiencies described above.